


dancing in the dark

by floralin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Fluff, Idols, Light Angst, M/M, POV Outsider, Pining, i wanted to explore dynamics sjshdjdjj, jaehyuck from taeyong’s pov, jaehyun is whipped, theyre all dumb im telling yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23044306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralin/pseuds/floralin
Summary: everyone noticed. literally everyone except the two of them, perhaps.maybe it had always been that way; no one seemed to be able to pinpoint the exact moment when it happened—the shift in energy, the spark set aflame.but as far as anyone could confirm, jaehyun was hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with donghyuck and planned to do absolutely nothing about it.(told from the perspective of one lee taeyong.)
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 19
Kudos: 346
Collections: My Favorite Fics, Neo got back





	dancing in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> hyuck and jae are my nct ults i couldnt help myself  
> also stream kick it/neo zone and maybe listen to ed sheeran's [perfect](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=817P8W8-mGE) bc thats what i listened to when i decided to write this and the title is taken from it; yes i know it's an overplayed song but gosh hearing ten singing it on his instagram really hit different  
> this is just a small drabble i somehow blurted into words on a page really late at night that i decided to finish so uh;; enjoy !!(?)

Before debut, Taeyong remembers being told in an overcrowded room with sixteen trainees gathered around their appointed managers: _be prepared. Be prepared for anything, no matter the circumstances_.

Be prepared for rumors, for injuries, for hiatuses, for members who grow tired and leave, for sudden changes in the group’s schedules and organization. Be prepared for sasaengs, for criticism and backlash, for failure.

Be prepared.

Until now, Taeyong thought he was.

The phrase had been engraved in his mind, held close and held with caution, and Taeyong’s lost count of how many times he’s repeated it over and over, letting its weight hang over his shoulders, increased tenfold with the position written on his official profile: _Leader_.

But never did Taeyong think to be prepared for an incident of these odds—a member falling in love with another member.

It hits him, a bit like an epiphany, when Donghyuck sleeps in one morning when they’re supposed to be having early practice.

Taeyong notices immediately after counting heads while they’re eating breakfast together, and excuses himself, intending to look for their maknae and possibly scold him a bit for staying in bed and trying to get away with being lazy.

What he doesn’t expect, however, is Jaehyun catching up to him to block his path when he’s about to enter their shared room, a firm look on his face. Which is quite unusual, given that Jaehyun doesn’t usually intervene in anything like this.

“Is something wrong, Jaehyun-ah?”

“He’s tired,” Jaehyun answers, still unbudging. “He stayed at the practice studio late last night on our rest day and came back at three in the morning. He woke up on time today, but I convinced him to go back to sleep because he needs it. Let him be, hyung. Scold me if you have to, but let him rest.”

There’s something about his tone, Taeyong notices, something behind the passive exterior of it—worry and protectiveness and stubbornness and _something else_ —

“Ah.”

The door cracks open a bit, revealing Donghyuck still in his sleepwear, hair mussed and seemingly still half-asleep. “Good morning, hyung. I can get up if you want—sorry for being irresponsible.”

Jaehyun’s expression tenses visibly, and Donghyuck is growing more awake by the second, and Taeyong is caught between trying to be a responsible, stern leader and a considerate hyung.

And then Donghyuck tilts sideways a little and Jaehyun catches him immediately, arm carefully wrapping around his torso and holding him in place.

That does it for Taeyong.

“You’re tired, Hyuck-ah,” he says gently, reaching out and smoothing Donghyuck’s hair down. “I’ll talk to the managers so you can get some sleep, okay? Don’t worry about practice.”

“Mhm,” Donghyuck nods drowsily, pressing his face into Jaehyun’s shirt. “Thank you, hyung.”

Taeyong watches carefully as Jaehyun leads them both back into their room, and then it hits him.

The tender, vulnerable expression on Jaehyun’s face when he looks at Donghyuck, giving in to his every want and need, letting him cling as much as he wants despite not liking physical affection, how he handles Donghyuck so carefully as if their Haechan, bright, resilient Haechan, is someone who can shatter at any given moment.

Jaehyun’s in love.

Specifically, Jaehyun’s in love with _Donghyuck_.

  
  


It takes several hours to sink in, and Taeyong tosses and turns in bed a little longer than usual that night, even with the exhaustion of a day’s practicing and promoting. Apparently, he’s the last to find out about the situation between the two (excluding Jaehyun and Donghyuck themselves, ironically); Taeyong had awkwardly explained why Donghyuck wasn’t coming to practice today and everyone else had nodded as if this was completely normal, while Yuta had teased him for finally noticing.

Eventually, he gives up on trying to sleep and gets up, heading to the kitchen—which is a mistake on his part, because as luck would have it, he finds two figures belonging to none other than Jaehyun and Donghyuck already there, feet padding quietly on the cold marble floor so as to not wake anyone else.

Taeyong stands still and decides to watch, curiosity getting the best of him.

Donghyuck is chattering away, more energized from the extra sleep he got in the morning (they had to wake him at two in the afternoon for mandatory schedules), and Jaehyun says nothing as he busies himself with the chocolate powder, but there’s a trace of a soft smile peeking through where his face is shadowed from the warm light of the kitchen.

When the scent of freshly made hot chocolate drifts through the dorm, Donghyuck finally settles down, his enthusiasm mellowed into quiet contentedness as he sniffs eagerly at the mug placed in front of him.

They don’t talk much. Occasionally, Donghyuck will murmur something and Jaehyun will respond, both using tones too quiet for Taeyong to understand. He feels a little bad for eavesdropping, but curiosity and a sort of responsibility-induced protectiveness make him stay.

Then, he catches Donghyuck’s voice, tone softer than usual.

“Hyung?”

Jaehyun hums in response.

“Thank you. For this. For a lot, honestly. You’ve been really patient with me recently, and I know sometimes,” Donghyuck falters. “I know sometimes I can be a bit—”

“You’re welcome, Hyuck-ah,” Jaehyun interrupts before Donghyuck can say something negative about himself. “It’s nice, being your roommate. I like it.”

“As if you wouldn’t trade me for Mark in a heartbeat like you did on NCT Night Night,” Donghyuck snorts, and he means to be playful, of course, Taeyong can tell, but—

 _But_.

“No,” Jaehyun says, so quietly Taeyong nearly misses it. “No, I wouldn’t. Not for anyone.”

He doesn’t tell Donghyuck off for not adding ‘hyung’ after Mark, either. No one does, really.

Taeyong hears Donghyuck inhale sharply. “Oh.”

Silence.

It drags on, and Taeyong is about to call it quits and sneak back into his room hoping the two younger members wouldn’t hear him when Donghyuck speaks again.

“I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else either. As a roommate, I mean,” he adds, a little quicker than normal.

Jaehyun doesn’t respond, and Taeyong hears Donghyuck huff. “Come on, let’s go back. Thanks for the hot chocolate.” There’s a rare, embarrassed edge to his voice, and Taeyong hears the two shuffle off to their own room, leaving him alone to contemplate in the darkness.

Of course Jaehyun liking Donghyuck doesn’t bother him in _that_ way; Taeyong has never and will never be one of those close-minded people who think they have the right to dictate others’ feelings. But it worries him to an extent, because, well.

They’re idols. From the very beginning of their lives as trainees, they’ve been trained to keep up a specific image—none of this and none of that, countless diets and tired boys standing in front of mirrors and pulling up their shirts, staring at their torsos in the reflection, picking out every single imperfect part of themselves to be unsatisfied with.

Because that’s the way it was and still is. The flower-boy appearance, sweet and innocent (unless prompted otherwise by concepts) and seemingly perfect and endlessly loving, never sad, never angry, never moody.

And Taeyong isn’t sure what a potential romantic connection between two members within the group is going to risk.

He hates thinking this way, but he’s their leader. He has to be the most careful, the most aware, the most fearful, for not just his sake but for the whole group’s. Donghyuck is young, barely even of age, with so much potential and talent and radiance and Taeyong knows he would never forgive himself if anything is to happen to their youngest.

“Hyung?”

Taeyong jumps and nearly trips over nothing, and a pair of arms reach out and steady him—Taeyong finds himself face to face with none other than the maknae of 127.

“Donghyuck? I thought you went to bed.”

“I had to use the bathroom and just came out,” the younger boy explains, still staring at Taeyong puzzledly. “What are _you_ doing up so late, hyung? You should rest.”

Something—Taeyong’s resolve, probably—breaks, and he slumps a little, leaning into Donghyuck’s warmth.

“Hyung’s been thinking, that’s all,” he says, bringing his arms around the boy in a rare display of affection that doesn’t turn him into a flustered mess. “About all of us. Our future.”

Donghyuck laughs quietly, a sweet sound that vibrates against Taeyong’s chest. “You worry so much, hyung. You don’t need to, you know?”

Taeyong opens his mouth, but something about the way Donghyuck is speaking keeps him silent.

“You can share things with us, you know, hyung? We’ve been telling you since debut, stop burdening yourself with everything—including things that are out of our control. Nothing that goes wrong is your fault alone. We’re all in this together—if you bear a burden we’ll bear it with you, whether you like it or not. Now go to bed, hyungie, and stop worrying so much. Things will be alright.”

Donghyuck’s voice is quiet, yet it carries an endless amount of compassion and resolve, a certainty to it, especially with that last sentence, and Taeyong has to pause for a few moments to properly form words with his mouth. He settles on pulling back from the hug to fix the younger boy’s hair despite knowing full well it would do no good for its state tomorrow morning.

“You’ve grown, Hyuck-ah,” he says softly, careful to keep the emotion building up in his throat at bay. “Is this really the tiny Lee Donghyuck who used to cling onto my arm in 2015 and beg me to cook for him at 2 in the morning?”

Donghyuck flushes slightly, mouth tugging into a smile of his own, and Taeyong presses a featherlight kiss to the crown of his head, too overwhelmed to think properly.

“Go to bed now,” he chides, “and thank you, Donghyuck. Hyung will be better too.”

“Sleep well,” Donghyuck says warmly in response, eyes sparkling even in the darkness. “Goodnight, Taeyong-hyung.”

*

They do stage rehearsals a few weeks later, breath coming out in little clouds of heat in the late November air. Taeyong’s muscles ache with a familiar throb and he ignores it, eyes scanning the members to search for anyone particularly tired or struggling.

There’s commotion from outside—he can hear it faintly, the chatter of an eager crowd of fans waiting outside; some of them have probably been waiting since morning or even earlier, and elation tugs at his heart—anticipation, a rush of adrenaline.

Donghyuck had marched into his room four days ago and promptly announced without warning that Jaehyun confessed to him and they were now dating, and Taeyong tried his best to feign shock and hold back his laughter as Johnny leapt out of bed and immediately called Doyoung to gloat that he now owed him 60,000 won.

A part of him is still afraid for them, spurred on by pre-concert nerves—a reminder of the public, cruel as ever, quick to feed on vicious rumors that collapse entire careers and reputations.

But then his gaze catches on Donghyuck snuggling into Jaehyun’s coat and the way Jaehyun’s ears are tinted a telltale shade of pink, his arms around Donghyuck’s small frame tighter than probably necessary as if he, too, wants to protect Donghyuck from all the evil in the world, and the worry in Taeyong’s chest settles.

“ _Things will be alright_ ,” Donghyuck had said, and Taeyong finds that he believes him, truly and greatly.

Whatever may come, they will persevere.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/jaehyuckist)  
> [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/yoonohyuck)  
> its short but i hope you all enjoyed it !!! pls leave kudos and/or comments i’d love to know what yall thought of this :((  
> anyway thank u sm for reading!!  
> much love,  
> lin.


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